The Themes of MURDER
Choices As the core theme of A Deal with the Devil, the impact of choices is immense. The biggest choice occurs when Richard is forced to pick either Kross, admitedly the love of his life, or Charles, his own son. Although the reader knows that Richard undoubtly loves Charles as he explained in A Fiend in Sheep's Clothing, Richard has yet to show his decision to Kross. Away from the influence of Kross, Richard can focus on his son, but with Kross around, there is clearly more confliction within. It's only after Kross' speech to appeal to Richard that Richard, looking at his son, and then back at Kross, realizes that Kross is no longer the man he fell in love with, and decides that he chooses Charles.Unforunately, Kross reacts horribly, and makes the choice to try and kill Charles. Richard tries to protect him, and gets shot by Kross. Richard's choice leads to his own death and feeds into Charles' growing guilt. Love Robert Gullahorn, in his ruthless, futile quest for the Exilir, openly rejects his own humanity. This prevents him from ever really understanding what life is about and what makes it so precious. His obession with being "special" keeps him from realizing the true power of love. It is his failure to recognize this critical aspect of humanity that leads to his downfall. Mortality On the other side of Kross' coin of confliction is his desire for immortality. Although Kross' love for Richard is powerful and influences many of his actions and behavior, the fear of death is just as powerful for him. Everything Kross has done in regards to the mystery of the island is connected to his goal of cheating death, and because of his absolute refusal to accept his own mortality, the evil nature of this character comes to light. The tragic paradox of Kross is that he sacrifices his life fo immortality. With the simple act of mistakenly killing the love of his life, Kross has finally left the crossroad and chosen the darker path towards a goal he will never achieve. He gives up the last bit of humanity in order to get a chance at an empty everlasting existence. Rob suffers from a similar but different conflict with mortality. Although he is afraid of death, it is not in the literal sense, but more in the metaphorical sense. Rob is afraid of his legacy dying. Death isn't just defined as the loss of a life but as the loss of meaning, the loss of innonence, the loss of impactfulness in the lives of others. With Rob's psychological need to be "special" thanks to his childhood, Rob fears that if he dies without having become famous or at the very least unforgetable, then he'll just another faceless figure that didn't amount to anything in his life, a negative point of view on life and it's value. Lies and Secrets TBA Identity TBA Family TBA Good vs Evil TBA The Supernatural In Season 2, The Killer is suggested to be a powerful demon trapped on the island, unable to leave because it's physical form is trapped inside the mountain. In addition, we have a planetary alignment, a blood moon, and a potential prophecy: "The Butler Dies". In the sixth episode of Season 2, we're introduced to the ghost of Ponce de Butler and in the eighth episode of Season 2, a haunting involving a ouija board occurs. However, as the final five episodes of the series reveal, the supernatural events previously seen in the first seven episodes of Season 2 were in fact not supernatural. Or, as the "ghost of Ponce de Butler", actually a hologram of Brandon Faust acting as a spaniard ghost, said: "The story you and the thirteen have been fed is a lie". The Fiend was originally created by the Original Five to keep everyone fearful of a nearly-all powerful demon away from the mountain holding the exilir. The ghost of Ponce de Butler is a hologram of Brandon Faust acting as a spaniard ghost. The riddles, the games, it was all designed by Kross and Brandon Faust. By the conclusion to A Deal with the Devil, the reader realizes that there is both truth and falsehood to the role of the Supernatural. Although The Fiend is not a literal demon, the alias of The Fiend represents greed, argorance, bigotry, and hate. The Fiend is also a representation of the true persona and inside of Robert Gullahorn: he seems like a good, honest, lawful man on the outside, but is rotten to the core, and very evil. Brandon Faust, while he isn't a literal demon, certaintly acts like one, a corruptive entity who represents the primitive and instinctive component of personality or "Id". Brandon Faust is the devil on Brandon's shoulder, and because Faust and Grundare are separate personalities and not people with bodies, Faust is able to do seemingly supernatural things in the mind of Brandon. With the series focusing on death as a whole, it's only natural that greater ideas such as God, the Devil, and the afterlife come into play. In A Deal with the Devil, the readers are introduced to the location of Limbo. Limbo is explained as an alternate and parallel space between the Mortal World and the Afterlife. All spirits travel through here on their way to judgement via "The Hallway", a path that cuts through Limbo to lead spirits from the Mortal World to the Afterlife. It's here that we learn that spirits and souls are in fact real, and there is an afterlife. In the series finale, all the characters who had been trapped in Limbo were successfully able to move on to the afterlife. This provides a larger scope of thought. As hinted in the series, the group of The Fiend, Kross, and Brandon Faust is like the Unholy Trinity that consists of The Devil, the AntiChrist, and the False Prophet. The False Prophet is known for being able to perform great signs and miracles, like how Brandon Faust was able to create illusions in order to make the guests believe The Fiend was a real supernatural being. This doesn't mean that everything supernatural is false however. Limbo is very much real, and its purpose within the show is to provide Charles the means to have one last cruical conversation, which ties into the final theme of the show... Confronting the Past and Gaining Closure Perhaps the biggest theme of the series is the idea of confronting the past and gaining closure. In Season 1, we see Ermac, the Wikia Manor Killer, get revenge on individuals from multiple families who wronged his family centuries earlier when the manor had been built. In this way, Ermac is confronting the past in a negative way, choosing to hurt those he deems responsible, rather than moving on from an injustice that wasn't even dealt onto him, but rather was descended through him. In Season 2, this becomes the central story arc for Charles Butler. As foreshadowed in Season 1's two-part finale, Charles has struggled with his past for many years. Over the course of Season 2, we see Charles' backstory, including how he met his friends, the strained relationship with his father as more secrets are revealed about him and his family, and his encounters with the main antagonists of Season 2, The Fiend and Kross. Traumatic events send Charles down a dark spiral, until he eventually drives away the only person he cares about: Vicki. The death of his father and his friends, along with the rest of Wikia Island, become a shameful burden to bear, and it's this survivor's guilt that leads him on the path to becoming a Butler, which is revealed to be his way of not only trying to please his father, but to distract him from his guilt. But when his guilt becomes too much, he drinks and acts unusual, similar to his personality in Season 1. As Charles returns to Wikia Island, he realizes he's been trapped once again, and is forced to deal with the reality of his situation. Although he understands what's happening enough to do what he's ordered to do, his denial holds strong on him, threathening to endanger the lives of all the guests and the life of Vicki once more. It's only when Speedy is killed and Brandon Grundare is heartbroken that Charles realizes that he can't keep running from his past anymore. The fear and self-resentment caused by his past has led to others being hurt, and now Charles must do the right thing and confront his past. Charles opens up about his past and begins to try and help set things right. He eventually becomes couragous enough to willingly go to Fiend Mountain and try to destroy the exilir, knowing that he's likely to die. When Charles arrives at Limbo, a discussion with his deceased father changes him, as Richard urges him to move on with this chapter in Charles' life and to do whatever Charles wants to do. Charles no longer has to hold the burden of his past, nor the shame or guilt. While Vicki does end up dying, this utlimately is another form of moving on, as if Vicki had survived, there would still be one attachment to his old life. With Vicki's death, Charles has no more ties to his childhood and can thus become his own person, free to do whatever he wants, having finally gotten Closure. Although not as large or impactful as Charles' story arc, Richard Butler undergoes a similar but shorter story arc as well. Richard suffers from shame and guilt as well, from being forced to break-up with Kross because of Rob, in turn leading to Kross' fall from grace and the death of Clara. Richard feels that the deaths of Eric Cureluy, Clara Butler, and later David King are his fault due to his homosexual relationship with Kross. His own fear that his own son will hate him, as well as his fear for the afterlife and his self-resentment caused by Rob leads to Richard shutting off that part of his life and placing Charles and himself into a self-induced punishment, extending to Charles' own adult life. Richard is eventually forced to face his past in both Chair of Mountain Terror ''and ''The Father, The Son, and The Suicide, the latter being the pivotal moment where his own fears about his son become true at the moment, and the truth comes out. Richard is forced to deal with Kross and Rob and tackles his past over the course of A Fiend in Sheep's Clothing and A Deal with the Devil. Brandon, Sub, Omni, and other characters face similar struggles with their past, offering up this idea that as human beings, we all have regrets, mistakes, and are ashamed of certain memories or aspects of our lives. However, the important thing is to not let those regrets, mistakes, guilt, or shame take over our lives, and to continously move on. It won't be a perfect life, there will be tragedy, there will be heartbreak, and life will suck at times, but at least we can learn to cope with the regular difficulties of life in a healthly manner. If we can move on and get closure on the hard parts of life, then we can give ourselves permission to enjoy life as it truly is: a beautiful and wonderful thing.